one of my favorites...

greetings!

well, if you know me you know i love just about everything pink, green and navy blue! actually, navy blue is my favorite color! on that note, did anyone purchase anything from the design report indigo SALE over at joss & main?

i couldn't resist buying two of these zigzag pillows. 

can't wait to see how they look in person.

if you love navy blue, you should definitely check out the design report indigo sale over at joss & main. not a member of joss & main? no problem, click here for your personal invite. sales are private! membership is free!

hopefully you all had a wonderful labor day weekend! we spent our time up north in northern michigan at our cottage. the weather wasn't the best, but that's okay plenty of shops and wineries to keep ourselves occupied! LOL!

here's a photo taken a l. mawby. check out l. mawby here: http://www.lmawby.com/index.php?route=/

 below could be one of the coolest sofas, especially if i lived in texas. this was was taken at another favorite winery called forty-five north. here's a link to their winery: http://fortyfivenorth.com/

 of course we did the most damage over at black star farms winery! after all a trip up north isn't complete without a baguette of bread from stone house house bread in leland, a block of raclette cheese and a bottle of local michigan wine!

here's a link to black star farms winery: http://www.blackstarfarms.com/

needless to say, it was a great trip up north! i saw this adorable wine frog on our way out of forty-five north. too cute to pass up, cheers!

hopefully we will make it up again sometime during the fall...you know before that nasty 4-letter word arrives....UGH!!!!

it's almost time...

one more day until we leave for michigan....can't wait!

i am looking forward to going up north to our cottage for the holiday weekend. doubt i'll make it over to petoskey and harbor springs. i'm thinking this trip i'll just stay local and visit my favorite towns --- leland, suttons bay and glen arbor!

looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend on the shores of lake michigan! you'll find me here...

and most likely over at cherry republic in glen arbor:

sampling wine...

and of course a little more sampling in the main shop, lol!

further up M-22, you can find me in leland:

or back at the cottage, enjoying a peaceful view of sugarloaf...or at least what's left of the sugarloaf resort! i remember spending many winters skiing those hills!

wow, just realized it's been over a week since my last post! ops! sorry about that folks! i'll blame it on my latest addiction -----  pinterest!

click on the link below and start following me today!

i am still trying to figure out how this whole thing works! ha! ha!

before i forget, i wanted to share with you the coolest features added to rue la la!

pretty cool feature if you ask me! thanks, rue la la!

below are some of their upcoming sales, i circled a few of my favorites below:

NOTE: sales start at 11AM EST, unless otherwise indicated above.

not a member of rue la la? no problem, click HERE for your personal invite! sales are PRIVATE and membership is FREE!

...HAPPY SHOPPING!

oh well, time to sign off! i hope you all have a fabulous holiday weekend! later!!!

something new...delicious and almost out!!!

well, not in that particular order!

other the weekend we ventured back up to lake geneva, wi. this time we "camped" with my BIL & SIL! yup, it was quite an experience! of course my husband and i camped in style --- coleman tent, north face sleepbags and kelty air mattresses! oh, and of course i wore my keen sandals around the campground. there's been serious debate on blogs lately whether keen sandals are considered "preppy" or not...sorry sista, there's a time and place for everything and when your camping there's nothing like wondering around the campsite in your keens! LOL! after all, i wasn't a girl scout and indian princess for nothing! LOL!!!

needless to say, i got a few buy bites but other than that it was a nice time! we ate out every meal except for saturday night! my BIL & SIL cooked for us! i have to tell you they picked up the BEST corn from a local farmer! OMG...so worth the $5.00 they paid for a doz. ears of corn! YUM!!!

oh well, while wondering the shops downtown lake geneva, i ventured into the global gourmet & village baker --- as i do every time i am in lake geneva! this time i didn't come out empty handed! below is what i bought:

i bought robert rothchild farm's -- pineapple coconut mango tequila sauce [$9.95/bottle] --- perfect pairing for shrimp and calamari and their mushroom marsala sauce [$9.95/bottle], which we had tonight! i also bought a bottle of luigi capone's marinara alfredo combina sauce [$9.95/bottle].

i also bought a bottle of asian CHOYA plum wine for [$16.95/bottle]....OMG!!! this stuff is going to get me in trouble!

as i mentioned above, tonight we had the mushroom marsala sauce with sliced chicken breasts and no yolk noodle! yum...

but it was missing something....sour cream, added a couple of table spoons of sour cream and it was perfect!!!!

YUM!!!!!

tonight i also had one of my favorite alternatives to "pop" - yup, here in the north it's "pop" ---used to love saying "pop" all the time when i was away at boarding school! hee! hee! hee!

anyway, tonight i had hansen's cherry vanilla creme natural cane soda!

so delish, their root beer is also delicious! you can purchase hansen's products at costco and whole foods. i'm sure it's sold other places, but those are the only places i have seen them.

as far as something "almost out" ... fingers crossed that gilt groupe has one of my favorite perfume's for sale at the laura mercier sale event that starts tomorrow, august 23rd!!

fingers crossed at least, as you can tell my bottle of Eau de Lune is almost out!

not a member of gilt groupe? no problem, consider yourself personally invited. click HERE for your personal invite! sales are PRIVATE! membership is FREE! last week they had JACK ROGERS! you never know what you'll find over at gilt groupe!!!

finally, fitting i should leave this part until the end but PLD is finally on pinterest! oh yes, i am! better late than never! so now you can follow me over at pinterest!

click on the link below:

i am still trying to figure out how this whole thing works! i downloaded the PIN IT feature to my side bar...have yet to see it work! oh well, eventually i'll figure it out! ha! ha!

okay, now time to read all about the kim kardashian's wedding, lol!!!

sunday's post...

ahhhhh, fabulous way to start of my sunday...

have you had your starbucks fix today?

can't believe labor day weekend is 2 weeks away! sheesh, another summer that went by too fast!

oh well, can't wait to head up north to the cottage and spend some quality time on the shores of lake michigan!

you the place that was just voted on ABC's GMA [good morning america]  "MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN AMERICA" here's the link to the story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/best_places_USA/sleeping-bear-dunes-michigan-voted-good-morning-americas/story?id=14319616

yup, that's up where our cottage is located! M-22 country! can't wait!!

a few things added to my "must have" list...

so excited, the weekend is almost here! looking forward to going up to lake geneva, wi, again this weekend! venetian fest is this weekend, should be a good time! looking forward to hanging out with my BIL and SIL too!

anyway, today i stopped over at pottery barn and found a few things to add to my "must have" list! first off this  scent called mission fig...omg, i love it!!!

i you haven't smelled it, you should! the potpourri is only $19.50 --- i think???

i also saw this adorable leave display. of course i had to investigate.

ummmm, i love it but not $39.50 for 1 branch and the display has at least 8 ---- no thanks, i'll wait until they go on sale!

also, these almond pear candles...love 'em! i think they are called almond pear? i could be wrong, something pear anyway!

on a sad note, one our favorite seafood restaurants is closing at the beginning of september! it's been like an episode of cheers every time we've gone! we've gotten to know the bar staff in the bar area. it's going to be sad to see braxton's go! we've been going there since we first moved to elmhurst back in 2001! unfortunately, all good things must come to an end!

thus, i'm really going to my stellar 1lb. lobster dinners at cost! not to mention the AMAZING calamari and oyster appetizers! boo hooo!

word is they will re-open at a new location under devon seafood girll, but the BIG question is will they have the lobster special at cost?!?!?!?!?!  i've heard they specialize in crablegs! only time will tell, but needless to say my husband and pretty bummed! so are my parents, we taken them there every time they are in town!

thankfully, chicago is full of amazing restaurants! oh well, i still have 2 weeks to enjoy braxton's before they close there doors...boo hoo!!!!!!

enough about lobster, calamari and braxton's...it's making me really sad!!!!

okay, this is the last time i am going to shop online w/out using EBATES! i've been a member since 2006 and since that time i have accrued just under $800.00! best of all it's deposited right into my paypal account. if you don't have a paypal account no problem, they have other options. cool, huh!

for example, if only i remembered to use EBATES when i bought this cute henley dress over at lands end, which actually arrived today! yippee!! too bad it's dirt cheap now, ha! ha!

 i would have saved an additional 6%! doesn't seem like much, but as you can tell it adds up fast...IF you remember to use it! ha! ha! ha!

so check out EBATES if you haven't done so already!

happy shopping!

finally!!!

it's hard getting out of bed every morning when you have to deal with this by your head every morning!

i just love this little man!

oh well, any tea drinkers out there?

over the weekend i purchased a new teamaker at teavana. it's called the perfect teamaker and it rocks!!!  it's so cool! below is a picture of me brewing my 1st cup of tea!

best part you life the teamaker over your cup and place it on the cup and the tea "drops" and when you have enough lift it up and the tea stops pouring! so cool!

well, i was finally be able to place my wusthof order over at joss & main this morning! for some reason, i kept getting an odd error message trying to place my order yesterday. needless to say, can't wait to add this offset deli knife to my "classic" wusthof collection!

feel free to head over to joss & main and check out the wusthof sale event! lots of great deals! not a member of joss & main, click here. sales are private! membership is free!

wusthof in my opinion are the best knives on the market! i've had my wusthof set for over 10 years and still in excellent condition! after all you pay for quality, quality lasts...so true!!

two words....the help!!!

have you been out to the theatre to see the help?

 it was an  phenomenal movie! i highly recommend seeing it!

i went last night and the theatre was packed! i got there early b/c i wanted a good seat! so many people were walking out of the theatre with tears in their eyes! guess the ending was a real tear jerkier! i wouldn't know! i'll be honest with you i missed the last 15 mins. or so of the movie, thanks to my husband to who remains in the dog house! still pissed about leaving early, so actually i don't know how it ends!

i watched up to the part when abilieen and minny were at the grocery store and saw a woman reading the book! i so wanted to stay, but my husband was being such a nag b/c his movie got out before the help was over! guess i'll have to read the book or watch the movie again to find out how it ends!

all i can say is i am glad i didn't grow up in the south in the 60's! without opening a can of worms, i'll just say i am glad times have changed! way to go skeeter!!

as for some scenes in the movie i really wanted to get out my seat and punch someone! i think the cast was awesome! if only i got to see the end of the movie...lol!  that's okay, i'll be milking it all weekend! ha! ha! ha! 

my favorite part of the movie was the scene with minny, hilly, hilly's mother and the chocolate pie! lol!!! karma is a bitch isn't it, lol!!!

i also loved the fact that hilly's mother bought minny's chocolate pie at the auction...lol! sissy spacek was one of my favorite characters, such a riot!  i'll admit i'll becareful the next time somone shows up at my door with a chocolate pie! ha! ha! ha!

oh well, have a fabulous weekend!